King of the Castle/Theories
*As the original author suggests, the misrepresentation of the position, could in fact, be intentional, as an effort to symbolize the dichotomy that exists between Jack and Ben. Be that as it may, Ben loses a piece and has a lost game. * This mobisode takes place during the timescale when Locke was playing chess in ; this was during the timescale when Jack spent time with The Others after his capture. * Ben is the "King of the Castle". ** The game progress symbolizes the course of events of that time period and that Ben had knowledge of Kate's plan to free Jack and launch an attack on his authority - as long as the role of Juliet to become a spy working for Ben. Jack and Ben are the Kings (leaders of each party) and the other pieces correspond to the rest of significant players in the "game". *** Ben takes Jack's pawn opening way for Jack's queen to take Ben's bishop on b7 at the back of his defense (Kate and her team "storming the castle" to free Jack). Jack does so thinking of taking the far-right pawn next if Ben plays the more predictable move of saving his Rook from Jack's queen by placing it right next to his own king. But Ben seems to have anticipated this move or even provoked it in the first place (purposely leaving Jack to escape). Surprising Ben castles his king on the queens side (symbolizing Juliet's part in his plan) and effectively putting Jack's queen on the run (i.e. Kate), retaining his own positions in the significant center of the board (the Island), having sacrificed one of his own pawns (the destruction of the submarine and the death of some of the less-significant others). This move also paved the way for both of his rooks to be able to attack on Jack's king and queen, directly (a reference to Ben's yet unrevealed allies in his plan). * Ben is deliberately cheating Jack by playing an illegal move. ** We should consider the possibility that, since both kings are not on their proper starting space, the board was improperly laid out from the start. In other words, Ben didn't intend for the castle to be illegal, and Jack didn't call out the illegality, because both players placed their kings on the wrong space from the start. The meaning of this would be that both Ben and Jack are operating from a false assumption about the game; the implication being that neither man truly understands what's happening on the Island. (interesting thought) *** Ben does not cheat; this is a completely legal castling move, which also possibly offers insight into the title of the segment. Castling can be done either on the king's or queen's side, so long as the king is not currently in check, and neither the King nor Rook have moved yet. Castling on the Queen's side (Ben's move) is generally done by a significantly advanced chess player, for it is easier to castle on the king's side in most situations. ** The placement of the kings could simply be a prop error. *** The Kings are in the right position. They are meant to start on squares that are of the opposite color, but Jack and Ben laid out the pieces on the wrong sides of the board. This has no affect on game play. *** The game progress is meaningful and interesting portraying a what-could-be a real chess game between advanced players (thus the props being correct in all other aspects). This - together with the facts that the mobisode is very small in duration and the chess board is the only significant prop in it - lowers the probability of the king placements being a prop error. *** The game portrayed is still a valid game of chess if we consider the colors of the pieces to be inverted (i.e. if Ben played the first move). This is due to the board being set up correctly with a white square on the right hand. But furthermore for the game to be valid and having no affect on game play the player whose King lies on a black square has to play the first move. Simply stating Ben's pieces are painted black but the setting of the board signifies they are actually "the white". This is a reference to Ben's repeatedly stating that the others are in fact the "good guys". *** Since we don't see the beginning of the game the board could have been correctly setup but one of the players (e.g. Ben) asked to switch colors before the game began. Instead of rotating the board 180 degrees the same effect can be achieved by swapping each ones King with his Queen on the board - a quick color inversion. This would allow Ben to play the white and play the first move (even though his pieces would actually be painted black) and at the same time preserving the legality of the game. This could be Ben's way of illustrating to Jack not to judge by appearances and that the others aren't what they look like (they are actually the "good guys"). * The castling move is a foreshadowing of the Island's moving at the end of Season 4. * In Missing Pieces "King of the Castle", when Ben was playing a chess game with Jack, he told Jack he wouldn't try to stop him from leaving the island, but that someday he may want to come back. Then Ben said, "And if that day comes, I hope you remember this conversation." He said this because he had been time travelling from that future time. 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